Social spaces for road users
Streets of the future will be more than just thoroughfares for cars.
Leading New York transport advocate Paul Steely White says they will also be social places where all road users - including pedestrians and cyclists - move around easily and safely.
There will be more pedestrian plazas, play streets, bike and bus lanes, 30km/h speed zones, street vendors, pedestrian lighting, trees and gardens.
As a result, Mr White says, there will be fewer injured road users and more profitable shops.
Mr White, who spoke at an RAC breakfast forum in Perth yesterday, said the "complete street" of the future was taking shape in several US cities, including New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
Initial resistance had fallen away and local leaders and retailers were embracing the concept.
"There is an appetite for streets to be more attractive and more conducive to the vast range of people who use them," he said.
"Authorities in many cities are looking for a better balance on their streets where they can offer a diversity of choice and the freedom to walk and ride safely.
"Streets become the spaces between the buildings where people engage and socialise. They become attractive places."
In "transformed" Ninth Avenue in New York, there was a 58 per cent decrease in injuries and a 49 per cent lift in retail sales.
Mr White said change did not necessarily need to be expensive. A pedestrian plaza under the Brooklyn Bridge Overpass took "virtually just a lick of paint".
Mr White arrived in Perth at the weekend and rode up to Darlington and down to Fremantle.
He noticed that many streets were big enough for dedicated bike tracks and that urban speed limits were too high.
"Sixty or 50km/h is just too fast for urban streets," he said.
"Studies have shown that lower urban speed limits do not necessarily mean a slower car journey but they do mean people struck by cars travelling slower are more likely to survive."
The forum attracted 10 State MPs, several mayors and council chief executives and senior Main Roads staff.
Thousands of people are expected to ride to work tomorrow for the annual Ride2Work Day.
Bicycling WA chief executive Jeremey Murray said riders were invited to a free breakfast at the Perth Concert Hall forecourt from 6.30am to 8.30am and other events were planned in the State.
Mr Murray said riding to work was often quicker than other transport and a way to avoid traffic and public transport crowds.
Research showed riding to work improved health and fitness and reduced stress by avoiding other forms of transport.
"Employers also win, with regular bike riders having higher levels of productivity and taking fewer sick days," he said.
WA transport statistics show people riding into the city had increased 17 per cent this year.
